Greener On The Other Side
by owldadddy
Summary: [Highschool AU] It's the start of a new semester in Beach City School and Lapis, the school's honour student, starts her semester off with a bang when the school's newest student, an atrocious delinquent that goes by the name "Peri," is sadly seated next to her. [Lapidot fanfic; Rated T for alcohol and mention of suicide later]
1. Lost Eraser

And yet another semester of school had started, the whines and complaints of students to their friends filled the freshly cleaned hallways. It was finally the end of break and school was once again in session. The last of the winter breeze made Lapis shiver under her favorite sweater as she made her way to the Class List, where it displayed every student's name and their first period.

As she approached, she noticed only a girl by the name Sadie reading it. Well it is rather early, she thought to herself. It was still 6:45 and school started at 7:30. She prefered being on time and not just on time, but early.

"Mornin' Lapis! Early as usual," Sadie smiled at her as she walked up to the list.

"Good morning," she mumbled as she turned to the list and ran her fingers along the paper looking for her name. _Lazuli, Lapis, 1308, AP Biology, Quartz, Rose,_ she read to herself. Same period as last semester.

"Looks like we'll be having 1st period together," Sadie looked at the sheet as well.

"Seems so," Lapis merely said with a polite smile. Good, she didn't like changes anyway.

"Well, see you later then!" Sadie waved her goodbye and walked away. Lapis just nodded her way.

Knowing where she would be going once the bell rang, she decided to find a place to sit and pass the time.

Her school was Beach City School, founded by the current principal Mr. Dewey, and it was a rather small school, with the number of students not even reaching twenty. Onion being the only fifth grader, Peedee the only sixth grader, two 7th graders, no freshmen, Amethyst the only sophomore, eight juniors, and four seniors; seventeen students enrolled in total. And yet the campus was a bit too big for only seventeen students (it wasn't a large campus, mind you). Being a small K-12 school, everyone knew each other pretty well enough that they could casually walk up and start a conversation as if it were nothing. Despite the fact of only having very few classmates, the students still had managed to form their own cliques.

Lapis, however, did not have her own group. Every once in while, she'd hang out with Steven and his friend Connie, but really she didn't care much for other people and only really took interest in her work. Everyone respected her, but also treated her like an old friend.

She every so often got a "hello" and "how are you?" which she didn't mind. At least it was nice to know people actually cared about her.

She sneezed into her sleeve. It was almost impossible for Lapis to read. The weather was forcing her to shiver and made it difficult to steady the book to turn the page. She sniffled and wiped her nose.

After quite some time, she'd already been halfway done with it. Lapis suddenly felt a presence next to her, but before she could look up to see who it was, her book was snatched out of grasp.

A rather irritating cackle from Jasper made Lapis cringe.

"Hello, Jasper," Lapis frowned.

"You make this so easy," Jasper threw aside her book.

"H-Hey! Easy!" Lapis tried to get up to retrieve her book, only to be pushed back down by Jasper.

Ever since Yellow Diamond and her other friends graduated, Lapis could tell that Jasper was rather lonely and sad, despite having a hideous attitude. She tried talking politely and being friends, but Jasper's stubborn nature pushed her away and made it clear that she and her were never to be friends.

"What do you want?" Lapis was getting annoyed.

"Oh c'mon, is that any way to speak to your elders?" Jasper smirked.

"With my current situation, manners would be the least of my problems," Lapis muttered.

Jasper frowned. "What was that nerd?"

"I'll repeat that again, what do you want, Jasper?" Lapis merely said. Jasper growled at her sudden snappiness, but nonetheless returned back to her "friendly" smile.

"I'd like some money, Lapis," she rested her arm on the shorter girl's head and leaned.

"Please get off me," Lapis struggled to lift the jock's arm off her.

"I would... for a price," Jasper rubbed her fingers together.

"I refuse to pay you to get off me. In fact, I would much rather suffer than succumb to your childish ways," Lapis scoffed and crossed her arms.

The bell rang, indicating that they would have just five minutes to get to class.

Jasper grabbed her by the collar. "I'll say this again, twerp. Give me your money," she spat.

Lapis struggled as she was extremely uncomfortable being lifted off the ground.

"Put .. me.. down!" she managed to croak out.

"Not until you've given me your cash!"

"Jasper that is enough!" a sharp, yet a rather gentle voice pierced the argument. Both students looked to the source of the voice, the biology teacher, Ms. Quartz.

"Jasper, please let Lapis go," she firmly commanded.

Jasper scoffed. "You and what army?"

The teacher merely glared, shooting daggers and establishing dominance over the delinquent.

Jasper, _clearly_ unafraid, lowered the girl and groaned.

"Thank you. Now Jasper, please proceed to your first period."

"Tcht. Whatever," Jasper frowned and slung her backpack on her shoulder. She turned to Lapis and growled. "We'll settle this later." Then walked away.

Lapis turned to the teacher and gave her a grateful smile, "Thank you for that, Miss Quartz."

The teacher returned the smile. "No need for that. Now, come on. I think the class is waiting for us." Lapis nodded and followed her teacher close behind.

Nothing much happened afterwards. It was just another normal day in Biology class. After she and Ms. Quartz entered the door, class immediately started with notes and review. Lapis hoped to start out the semester as normally as possible, though however her wish had unfortunately not come true. However, she did find herself without an eraser in the middle of the lesson. It probably fell out of her backpack pocket when Jasper decided to roughhouse with her.

When the bell rang for Nutrition Break, Ms. Quartz had called for her to stay a bit after as the class quickly stuffed their notebooks back into their bags.

"So sorry to cut your break short Lapis, but this is rather important," the teacher brushed a strand of curly hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear.

"No problem, Miss. What is it?"

"This is might be sudden news to you; it certainly was to me. The school will be having a new student soon.." she gave Lapis some time to absorb. News of a new student, much less someone actually moving to Beach City, was an extremely rare thing. So rare that this is the first that the small town has news such as this.

"O-Oh..? But what does this have to do with me?" She asked. Ms. Quartz smiled.

"Well, the principal is asking you to be her guide."

"Guide?"

"Yes. We want you to just.. I don't know. Help her around? Be friends with her? She just moved in town from far away and she doesn't have any friends. We've been told that she's quite... a challenge to get to know."

Lapis felt a pang of irritation. Why would she be the one to do this? There were so many other choices in the campus.

"Why me?" she suddenly blurted out, "I-I'm sorry I didn't mean for that to sound so mean."

"That's quite alright. Because you're the school's honour student. We feel you're more.. mature and more qualified for the task." She didn't know whether to feel honored or annoyed. She didn't have time (nor the want) to babysit some teenager. She certainly didn't want someone to bring her down.

"I can tell by the look in your face that you're giving this a long hard thought process of whether you should do this or not..." her teacher pointed out. Lapis sighed.

"I'm not exactly a... people person.."

"Neither is she," the teacher was quick to respond.

"I won't have enough time to look after her."

"Well you certainly aren't babysitting her. Just be her guide, answer her questions, give advice, help her out in her studies."

"Why don't you do this? You're much more of a mother figure than I am."

Her teacher chuckled. "We feel that a person more her age would be better suited for this." Lapis was hesitant.

"You know.. I _really_ don't want to do this," she said.

"And we _really_ need you to do this," Ms. Quartz insisted, "Please?"

Slowly but surely, Lapis succumbed and finally agreed. She grumbled to herself as she walked off to break.

But she tried to think positively; how bad can the new student be?


	2. Broken Lead

Soon enough news and rumours of the newbie was floating in the air. About a week she'd been given the task, every single teacher had brought out the news and announced it in the beginning of class.

"There will be a new student transferring to the school. Now I want you all to welcome them with open arms. Now as for the exact date they will be arriving, we haven't been given, but your teachers have been told around next month. The student is a she, however we haven't received a name yet. Anyways, back to class..." And that's pretty much how it went on that day. There was so much bickering and gossiping after the announcements, she almost felt bad for the student... who hasn't even arrived yet. It surprised her to see the amount of preparation the school had in honor of the student. In her honesty, she wasn't too excited as the rest of the school for the new student.

The dreaded day she feared for the most came sooner than she anticipated. Lapis now sat in her regular seat in her first period biology. She wasn't a big fan of changes; worst of all she didn't know whether the new student would be smart like her or reckless and a troublemaker? Or maybe she'd be ditzy and clumsy as much as she was? Would she cooperative or downright stubborn?

There were so many questions swarming and buzzing around her head that it kind of made her dizzy. Normally, she'd ignore anything that didn't concern her, but she had a feeling this student would be different from the rest.

Forcing herself to stop thinking about the new student, Lapis looked down at her notes and reviewed them again for the fifth time.

Just as she was about to actually forget about her, the first bell rang and indicated that the school day was about to begin in five minutes. One by one her peers flooded into the classroom and into their seats. She felt herself scowl when everyone in her class had arrived and the second bell rang.

Her focus and gaze automatically turned to the front of the room out of pure habit, but was surprised to find that instead of the teacher standing, it was the principal himself.

"Good morning class," his stern voice cut through the chitter chatter of the students and earned their attention.

"Good morning, Principal Dewey," the class said in unison.

"As you may know from your teachers at some point last month, there would be a new student joining our beloved school. Now first and foremost I would like you all to know that she prefers to be called 'Peri-'" he was interrupted by the outbreak of whispers amongst themselves. Lapis sat patiently in her seat and waited for the class to settle along with the principal.

"Class please quiet down." Slowly but surely the whispers soon turned to silence. Principal Dewey continued. "Anyways, I want you all to treat her with respect and kindness, as you would want yourself to be treated. Please do know that this is a stressful time for her. Changing schools and moving homes is extremely difficult," he turned his attention to the door and called out to her.

"Peri? Won't you come in?" A pretty girl of short messy green hair stepped into the classroom. She had her bangs clipped back to reveal her forehead, a black leather jacket that almost covered her green shirt and skinny blue jeans. Everyone's gaze was locked onto her and Lapis could tell she was extremely anxious and nervous, but did a great job of hiding it behind her stoic expression.

"Everyone, this is Peri," the principal introduced them to her.

"Hello, Peri," the class murmured, dazed at her.

"From this day forth she will be part of the Mountain Goats Family!" the class clapped.

He turned to the teacher. "Ms. Quartz, I trust you'll carry on?"

"I certainly can," she said with a smile.

"Perfect!" Principal Dewey clasped his hands together. "Have a nice day class!" and with that he waved goodbye and left.

Ms. Quartz stepped forward and put a gentle hand on Peri's shoulder.

"Welcome to my classroom. Do you see that empty desk next to Lapis?" she pointed to it and the student turned to where she was pointing at, "That will be your seat. She'll be your partner for the rest of the year and if you have question please do not be afraid to ask either one of us alright?" the teacher gave her a cheerful smiled.

Lapis watched the girl thank the teacher and proceeded towards her way. She noticed the girl look rather... peculiar. As if she and her personality didn't belong in those clothes. Peri's glasses didn't exactly match the style she was going for. Her green eyes twitched left to right, as if she was scanning her environment for any threat. But what troubled Lapis the most was the feeling, her aura, surrounding her. She felt that she couldn't quite understand who or what she was like. It felt like everything was a mess around her. But nonetheless Lapis felt Peri could be respected.

But one thing the gave Lapis some trouble was that the girl had carried nothing with her to school. No backpack, no binder, no paper, not even a pencil.

"Now class, please take out paper and a writing utensil, we will be starting a new chapter today. Ecology. Let's break that down, shall we? Eco, write this down this will be a test question, meaning environmental and -logy, the study of. Put both together and you get the study of organisms and their interactions with their environment..." Ms Quartz started to teach.

The good student she is, Lapis scribbled down every single breath of word the teacher spoke. "... and so the picture on the left is an example of primary while the picture one the right is secondary..."

Lapis glanced at the new girl next to her, to see if she was in need of any help.

She just sat there for the rest of the class period not even paying attention to the lesson, which is a huge pet peeve of Lapis. She didn't seem to even be ready to be in school. No backpack, no binder, not even a single pencil was brought in.

 _First impressions aren't always for everybody_ , she sighed. But nonetheless, she was tasked to help out the student get comfortable and catch up.

Lapis dug through her bag to find another pen and ripped out the last page of her notebook (which she really did not want to do considering she had a plan to use all 100 pages for notes). She placed them on Peri's desk and spoke quietly.

"Here. Take some notes, there will be a quiz on Thursday about the lesson in class today," she whispered. The student merely scoffed.

How rude, Lapis scrunched up her nose and proceeded to go back to note taking. _Maybe second impressions aren't the best either.._

It had been two weeks since Peri had arrived and out of those ten days of school, Lapis had only seen her pick up a pencil ONCE, and that was to only poorly draw a flower with a smiling face. And that was in math class.

Apparently, Peri almost had all of her classes with Lapis except for one. While Peri had band, Lapis had independent study hall. But even in that period Lapis wasn't spared at all. Peri would ditch her band class and "hang out" with Lapis. Hanging out was sitting next to Lapis, who was studying, and snoring her hours away.

In their other classes, their teachers had either seated them next to each other or close. Lapis couldn't help but feel burdened by her trusted advisors to babysit an irresponsible student. She didn't mind the company, but Lapis had hoped that Peri would one day perk up and start doing her work.

"Let's review Ecology. Please study for your Unit exam class! It doesn't hurt to study. Lapis, which has more plant diversity, land with rich soil or land with poor soil?" Ms. Quartz asked.

 _Such an easy question.._ , Lapis thought quietly.

"Well, I would have to say that the land with rich soil has the most plant diversity," she answers, clear and confident.

"Care to explain why?"

"Well, it's only common sense in this class that plants need nutrients to grow. So logically, the rich soil would have more plant divers-"

"You're wrong," Lapis was cut off surprisingly by Peri, who sat with her arms crossed.

"Excuse me?" Lapis was taken aback by the sudden attitude.

"I said you're wrong," Peri repeated again. There was a tense silence in the class that followed soon after.

" _I_ can assure you that I am not wrong," Lapis firmly said.

"And _I_ can assure you that you are indeed wrong," Peri turned to look at the teacher, "Miss, the poor soil would have the most plant diversity."

"O-oh? Please explain," Ms. Quartz, too, was just as shocked as the rest of the class.

"Well for starters, I will acknowledge what Lapis said and agree that plants do need nutrients to grow. However that is the flaw of having a rich soil environment. Trees in a rich soil environment have a huge advantage. Why? Because with the abundant amount of nutrients, the trees are allowed to grow up taller and much faster than their fellow plants below. And with many trees in the area, that means that there will be more shade and more shade equals less sun for the smaller plants below. And when there isn't sunlight the smaller plants, they cannot do photosynthesis and will thus die. And all that will be left are the plants who actually have access to the sun, the bigger and larger plants usually. So to conclude my statement, my answer is that poor soil would have the most diversity," Peri turned to the teacher, "Am I correct?"

There was a heavy silence and the only sound that could be heard was from Pearl's pencil, which was writing everything down.

Before Ms. Quartz could speak, Lapis spoke up. "Yes, you are correct," she announced and then gave her a forced smile, "Well done, Peri."

It was silent once more. Pearl had accidentally broken her pencil with a small "Oh darn!"

 **Author's Note:**

 **Note that the first two chapters are kinda the boring ones, tbh. I was gonna originally have Peridot in her usual nerd role and Lapis as the new student, but decided against it. Much too cliche' I suppose? But hey, at least Peri was a nerd in this chapter. Anyways, comments and suggestions are welcome. Cheers!**


End file.
